‘You must come with me now,
Mr Redford. Quickly! There isn’t much time!’ Tan-Lin said. But at first Tony didn’t hear her. He was still staring at the machine with Liz’s face. It was standing there like a frozen statue. Its eyes were still staring out lifelessly. Some smoke was coming from one
of its eyes.
‘How did you know what to do… I mean, how did you stop it?’ Tony asked.
‘I can explain that later, Mr Redford. Later! But first we have to get out of here. Through the window!’
At first Tony couldn’t believe his ears.
‘What are you talking about? We have to wait here. The police will want to ask us a lot of questions about… about this thing here!’ He pointed to the robot. It looked and smelt more like a burnt-out machine than a human being now.
‘No, Mr Redford. We can’t
wait for the police and all their questions. It will take far too long. Come with me!’ Tan-Lin gripped his arm and pulled
him out of bed. Her grip was as strong as the grip of the terrible machine with Liz’s face.
‘But I can’t! I mean, my clothes!’ he said. He was wearing only a thin cotton
hospital nightgown. She pulled him with her towards the window. She could hear noises at the end of the long hospital corridor. She knew that
people were coming.
‘We can’t wait!’ she said. She carried him out of the window and down a fire escape just
outside the window. When
they got to the street below, a few people were walking along it. They stopped and stared at the strange sight.
One of them told a newspaper about it later.
‘I was walking along the street when I suddenly saw a tall,
thin woman. She was carrying a man in her arms, almost like a baby. He was wearing some kind of nightgown. At first I thought I was dreaming. But she pushed him into a car and drove away. I even heard her say «I’m glad I learnt to drive these primitive machines of yours.» Those were her exact words. She had a
strange accent. It wasn’t very strong but I don’t think she was English,’ the man said.
Tan-Lin took Tony first to his flat, where he got some clothes.
‘And now we must go to
Southampton,’ she said. Tony followed her back to the car.
‘Why do you want to go there? I mean, shouldn’t you tell the police about Shandor?’ he asked.
‘There’s no time for that. I’ve
told you that before. We must
get to Shandor before he finds out what has happened to his robot. And Shandor isn’t a
case for your police, Mr Redford. His case is for other people, somewhere else, not here,’ she answered. They got into her car and drove
through the night, towards
Southampton.
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What do you think Tan-Lin means when she says ‘Shandor isn’t a case for your police’?
Now think of some more questions you would like answers to, but which you can't find in this episode. |